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It looks like Sonic Youth is keeping up with their reading. The first track on their new album, Sonic Nurse, is titled “Pattern Recognition,” also the title of William Gibson’s most recent novel (BookSense, Amazon). Lest you think this is mere coincidence, you should know that in Confusion is Next: The Sonic Youth Story (BookSense, Amazon)
Alec Foege writes that Daydream Nation (“The holy of holies,” as Matt says.) was heavily influenced by Gibson’s work. Specifically, according to the band’s official site, the title of “The Sprawl” comes from Gibson’s Mona Lisa Overdrive (BookSense, Amazon), and “Hey Joni,” was “[i]nspired in part” by Neuromancer (Booksense, Amazon).

I learned via PitchforkMedia that Sonic Youth will be playing the Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri on July 31. The Blue Note is supposed to be a pretty small club, and I snatched up my ticket yesterday. Woo-hoo!

the blue note is a great club. Enjoy. I saw them live once in a large amplitheatre, opening for REM, and they sounded bad (A speaker blew out and everyone cheered; not a bright day for them). I’ll bet in a small club like the blue note, though, they’ll be great.

I don’t know why they’re not playing a smaller show in D.C. in addition to the Lollapalooza gig. Weird. What I’ve heard of the new album does sound really good. I’m surprised the Blue Note did not sell out before I bought my ticket, but maybe a college town in the summer is the perfect locale for seeing SY. I’ll die happy if I never have to see a band in a large venue again.